Friction member.



W. T. BOQLNTXTRI FRICTION MEMBER. APPLICATION FILED JMLZO, 1909.

good stiffness and tensile strength.

WILLIAM T. IBONNEB, 0F WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA.

FRICTION MEMBER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 24, 1909.

Application led January 20, 1909. Serial No. 473,317.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM T. BoNNER, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Washington, in the county of Beaufort and State of North Carolina, have invented certain 4new and useful Improvements in Frietion Members, of which the lfollowing is a specifica-tion.

This invention relates toA friction mem g bers; and it comprises a brake having a; friction element or liner of assembled plies or layers of Wire fabric and a holding element adapted to maintain said friction element in frictional contact with a surface to be braked; all as more fully hereinafter set forth and as claimed.

In high duty brakes of all kinds, and particularly those in which the engaging surfaces -are relatively small`as compared with the energy to be absorbed, as in hub and axle brakes of automobiles, the stresses and strains in the engaging members are very great, necessitating the use of material of These qualities are, however, difficult to find combined in substances having also a good coefficient of frictional resistance. Asbestos, leather and other materials having a good frictional coefficient are generally lac-king in the stiffness or the strength desirable for the present purposes. Metal, such as steel, brassor bronze, has the desired strength, though'many of the friction metals are hardly so strong', but in high duty work metal tends to wear to a smooth surface, and in high-duty braking, such as is necessary with automobiles, after a tim a metal brake is apt to wear so smooth that there is no intermediate stage between no-engagement and a locking-engagement. It is, of course, desirable in all braking work that there shall be the possibilty of intermediate engagements whereby a vehicle or other moving i object may be brought to rest more or less gradually. In a metal strap engaging an automobile axle sleeve, for instance, no matter how efficiently the brake works at first, after a time the strap and sleeve wear smooth, so that in an emergency stop a locking pressure must be exerted endangering tires and wheels. The same is true of brake sleeves engaging car wheels, and 1s a prolific cause of Hat wheels. lith other ,materials than metal in the brake, such as the various frictional non-metallic substances ordinarily used, the friction material is apt to tear or wear out after a time, the strength and stiness of such substances being ordinarily loW.

In the present invention, I have devised a different type of brake, assembling various elements in such manner that the friction- ,surface w1ll always present a cross-gram friction to the engaging surface, whatever the use or wear, while the friction material will preserve a resilience enabling the application of various degrees of engagement be tween no-engagement and locking-engagement. For this purpose, I assemble together a plurality of plies or layers of Wire fabric in such manner as to give a mutual support with a holding element-adapted to maintain such assemblage of plies or layers in a strong and secure manner and to give the exterior or friction layer any desired engagement with a surface to be braked. I may use the ordinary wire gauze, that is, a fabric in which the wires cross `each other at right angles, but I prefer the fabric very closely woven. Or I may use the knitted wire. fabric in which the wires are looped about each other to a greater or less extent.

With the knitted fabric under pressure the plies give a very good mutual locking engagement and exhibit a desirable friction surface for the present purposes.

A laminated liner built up of knitted lies is very strong. In such a laminated iner built up from a knit fabric, the wiresforming a given loop on the exterior surface go downward into the fabric and are secured on the other side by other loops, giving great strength, even after long Wear, while the surface loopsbeing interrupted by s aces, give what is in effect 'a cross-grain sur ace. Furthermore, the loops on the under side of whatv is the exterior layer, under great pressure are forced down into the corresponding spaces of the layer next below, so that in effect the two layers together give 'substantially 1min-,100

terrupted metal. The Ordinar)T Woven fabrics however give the same effect and produce the same locking engagement under pressure, though not quite so efficient-ly as the knit fabric. than two layers, using from two up to as many as the size of brake requires.

The metal of the fabric may be any that is desired, and all the layers need not be the same. Steel, brass, bronze and aluminum 110 In practice, I prefer more bronze are all suitable, but I ordinaril iprefer steel.

y of the commercial stee s and alloysteels may be used.

In assembli the several plies to form the desired brake hner, a sheet of fabric may be simply folded into the desired shape, or the several plies may/be cut to shape and laid together. The assemblage is next submitted to heavy fpressure, as by a hydraulic press, whereby t e several plies are given the stated mutual locking engagement, and become, for the present pur oses, substantially an integral whole. VVhl e still underI pressure, the plies may be bolted together, retaining the compression, and the bolts afterward replaced by rivets, or the assemblage may be directly riveted while still under pressure.

Or the mass ofl lies may be heated and' welded under the ammer;.or locally united by electric spot Welds. A welded mass of wire fabric plies presents a number of advantages for the present purposes since it is very strong, cannot wear to any but a crossgrained surface while being substantially an integral mass and cannot break up under wear. The riveted assemblage on the other hand, whatever the pressure of assemblage,

is more or less resilient under pressure and gives the possibility of a very desirable series of varying engagements between no-engagement and locking engagement.

The shape of the mass of wirefabric is, of course, made to conform to that of the surface to be braked and that of the holding element. In a strap brake for automobiles and like pur oses, it may be that of a long strip of meta Where this strap is to be curved,

' the mass may be lcorrespondingly curved, or

it may be cut through, parta ly or Wholly, from the obverse side, to permit a concave curvature. In such a strap brake, for example, the strip of wire gauze may be cut into blocks, lproximally assembled in a more vor less flexible holder, thereby giving a flexible braking element. The friction mass may be assembled with the holding element in any convenient manner, as by the use of lugs on said holding element engaging the friction melnber and holding it in place, or by the use of bolts or rivets. For many purposes, a convenient method of assemblage is to place holding element and wire-fabric plies together under pressure and rivet or bolt the whole body together while such p ressure is maintained. Bolts may be employed while the assemblage is under pressure and these afterward replaced seriatim with rivets.

The mass. of wire-fabric plies may be imprerrnated with rubber or other plastics; the rubber being applied, for instance, as a comparatively thin composition impregnating the whole mass, and thevmass being afterward vulcanized as awhole. This results in the formation of an integral mass of rubber Within and including the wire-fabric body,

filaments of rubber passing through the meshes. Or each layer of Wire-fabric may be impregnated before the next lisfput in place; the whole mass compressed, and afterward vulcanized. There the plies are riveted or bolted together, the use of rubber is mainly convenient for giving the frictional surface a smooth contour without interfering with the friction. In brakesI for exceptionally high duty where such he'at is likely to develop, the rubber may be disadvantageous as apt to char and as interfering to some extent with the communication of heat from the braking surface through to theholding element. In an all-metal braking element under the pres- 'ent invention, the several plies or layers are all in good thermal contact, bothV with each other and with the holding element, which is a desirable feature as tending to dissipate the heat evolved on the friction surface in o eration. In such an allmetal brake, t ie wire-fabric layer under the one which forms the braking surface, and which is advantageously steel, may be of copper or other good heat-conductive metal in order to assist in this dissipation of'heat.

.Either the braking element proper, or the element to be braked may be made of Wirefabric layers under the resent invention; but it is generally Aprefera le to use the wire fabric layers for the form'er.

In the accompanying illustration, I have shown, more or less diagranimatically, sundry ofthe many possible embodiment-s of the described invention.

In this shoWing-Figure 1 represents a vertical longitudinal section of an automoresulting under pressure; Fig. 4 is a view showing a brake shoe having a wire-fabric liner; Fig. 5 is apers ective view of a complete liner for the hol( ing element of Fis. 1 and 2; and Fig. 6 is a i section of a iner formed from folded wire cloth.

In this showing (see Figs. land 2), `1 is an element to be braked, as shown, a spool or hub upon an axle, 2, which may be an automobile axle. This liub may be of ordinary turned, forged or cast metal. Around it is strap brake 3, composed of a metal holding element 4, carrying friction liner 5, and brought into and out of engagement by level' 6 in an ordinary manner. 'flic liner is coinposed of a plurality of layers oflwire fabric T, and may be formed, as shown in Fig. 6, of a sheet of wire-fabric folded to form a fiat roll. The several plies of this roll are maintained in mutual locking contact (see Fig. 3) by bev ing assembled under heavy pressure, such pressure being preserved in the complete article by rivets or bolts 8. These fastening elements may, as shown, also engage lthe metal holding element. The liner may or may not be, as may be desired, impregnated with rubber or other plastic.

In Fig. 3, which shows an enlarged section of several plies of fabric, the upper side may be considered the friction surface. On this side, as will be perceived, project a number of loo s, 9, each I'inclosing the meshing wire 10. eloW are corresponding loops and these latter in compressing the plies together, sink more or less into the spaces between the loops 11 of the sheet next below, and are given lateral support thereby against' the frictional stresses of use. The tops of the first set of loops together form thefrictional surface of the brake. The loops of the second ply, as will be perceived, mesh partly with the spaces of the layer above and partly y in the spaces of the layer below, and so on. As will be perceived, the layers or plies of Wire-fabric thus assembled form a composite body in which the several portions are solocated relatively to each other as to give a maximum of strength. `With a knitted fabric in which the loops and spaces are more developed than in a woven fabric this intermeshing effect is somewhat enhanced, but the Woven fabric forms a structure amply strong for mosturposes.

For the sake of) clearness of illustration, in all figures the wire fabric is shown rather open in mesh, but in practice it is employed as closely woven as may be.

'In Fig. 4, an ordinary car wheel 12 is shown, braked by brake shoe 13, containing plies of Wire-fabric I4.

In Fig. 5, a complete liner is shown, ready for assemblage with the kholding element of Figs. l, 2, or 4. If'it be desired to bolt it in place; bolts may be placed in orifices 15 to maintain the lay ers under the compression of the forming press, and may be removed one byone and replaced by the bolts attaching it to the holding element. Or it may be retained in place by any suitable shape of the holding element.

Fig. 6 shows on an exaggerated scale, a piece of wire cloth folded over itself to produce av narrow stri of laminated friction fabric. After the fo ding, the strip is placed under compression and the compression retained by bolts passing) through orifices similar to those indicated y 15 in Fig. 5.

In all friction' elements under the present invention, itis desirable that there should lbe a sufficient number of the fabric plies to formv a body of substantial thickness and give support and resilience in the described manner to the layer or ply which forms the friction surface proper, it being difficult to ldirectly cut into shape prior'to assem support otherwise such ply in a manner which will enable it to resist the stresses andv strains of high-duty braking. Such a laminated body however, is substantially as strong as one of solid metal whenformed in the described manner, and is as easily supported in a holdin element. And over solid ymetal or other riction elements, in addition to its very desirable friction surface it has the advantage of resiliency, enabling, as stated, varying engagements with the member to be braked. f

While. folding a sheet of wire fabric int the form of a strip is a convenient method of assemblage, yet the several plies maly be age What I claim is:-

1. A brake comprising a holding member and a plurality of contacting layers of wire fabric secured thereto,'the face of the outermost layer forming a friction surface.

2. A brake comprising a holding member and a plurality of contacting compressed layers of Wire fabric secured thereto, the face of the outermost layer forming a friction surface.

v 3. In a friction device, a body comprising a plurality of contacting compressed layers of wire fabric and headed fastening elements passing transversely through such body, an outer layer of such plurality of layers eing adapted to form a friction surface.

4. In a friction device, a friction element composed of a plurality of contacting folds of wire fabric assembled and maintained under com ression, an outer fold of such lurality o folds belng adapted to form a iction surface.

5'. In a friction device, a friction element composed of a pluralit of turns of wire fabric folded about eac other and assembled and maintained under compression,l an outer turn of such lurality of turns being i:exposed and adapted to form a friction surace.

6. A brake comprising a holding element, a liner therefor com rising a plurality of folded plies ofy wire f a ric and fastening elements securing said liner to said holding element and maintaining said plies under comlpression, an outer ply of such plurality of p ies being exposed an adapted to form a friction surface.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature -in the. presence of witnesses.

WILLIAM T. BONNER. 

